I gave some thought to life after death. I think it doesn't really matter. People mourn, and they think you're in some mystical place. But to me, and this is my opinion, you just rot in the ground and life keeps going on. So the question I ask: what is the point to living? Is there any real reason? ---------------------------------- Roll, Roll, Roll Your Joint Twist It At The End Light It Up, Take A Puff, Pass It To A Friend!
Not to be the bringer of bad news but it is just as you said. The purpose of life is to realize and stand in awe of the incredible mechanism that is existence.
Well, remember what you were doing 100 years ago ? Yea', neither do I.... That's because we were not born yet. And guess what else ? We won't be thinking about this life 100 years from now, either. Their is no heaven, or hell. When you die, you rot into the ground, or burn (if cremated) and that's that. But if fairy tales help you to sleep better, then by all means.
This is a question we all ask ourselves constantly in one form or another. We question what's around us on some level, even if we believe we have the sturdiest set of facts on our side. Meaning comes and goes as more facts become known to us as a species. Think about how radically different someone viewed the world in the 1500's with the information they had, their spirituality or worldview? We can demonstrably prove our grasp of the universe is better than theirs, so meaning isn't a fixed point in space. Sooner or later humans have to accept the implications of how we think and what we've learned as a result.
We cease to exist. Our brain, which carried our consciousness and instincts out into thoughts and actions, will no longer be able to manifest these ideas and actions anymore. It ends there. We decompose into the ground and provide building blocks of life or something else millions or billions of years later, especially when the earth either gets blown up or destroyed, or when the sun explodes. Sent from my iPad using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Well just because you can't remember doesn't mean it didn't happen. For example you have many dreams that you experienced in this life that you have no memory of it doesn't mean it didn't happen.
We may cease to exist, or we may cease to exist as we no ourselves to be. It may be that there is no such thing as non-existence, simply because we exist. Perhaps we have always existed, whether in a way we might recognise or not, be aware of or not. Perhaps we can only experience one state of being at a time, and each time we are who we know ourselves to be, we are not, by definition, anything else. Many think of death as the great mystery, the last frontier, as if we are merely here to make our way towards it. It doesn't serve us to be afraid of it, or its inevitability, as life is for living, not worrying about not living. But regardless of what you think may or may not happen, like the way you ought to live life now, it will happen when it does, and that will be all there is in that moment. Perhaps living life properly, in the present, prepares us for dealing with this process automatically. Perhaps for some, they barely notice.
I find it weird how a lot of members of this forum seem so nonchalant about the subject of dying. How easy it is to sit comfortably stoned, and proudly boast your fearlessness with becoming nothing. I feel like inside all of us lies an uneasiness about death. A very strong uneasiness. For thousands of years we have created belief systems to help cope with this uneasiness. But now, in the modern age, instead of creating beliefs (some still do), a lot of us simply lie to ourselves that were okay with it. I feel it to be very phony.... But perhaps this is just me. Perhaps the people I'm talking about actually are genuinely non-anxious about it. If so, I envy you.
Yes, good point SW. It is easy to imagine yourself fearless and prepared for death. Very different in the moment, when you suddenly find yourself thinking you might be losing what you know, you love, you are, and decide you're not ready to give them up. Very different. I wonder how many of those who reveal their acceptance have ever faced a moment where the idea of death was actually real? Might be interesting to know.
Exactly. When one has an encounter where they dodge death by a hair, that's when the real, primal feelings about it come out. I know this from experience. I realized how easily and unexpectedly death can come into your vicinity, even if you're a lively teenager like I was when my incident happened. You also realize just how un-ready you are to let go of everything you are, know, and love. It's the ultimate attachment. At the same time, there are many elderly people who know their days are numbered, yet they are relaxed, and feel ready for whenever death decides to take them. They aren't lying to themselves, they really do feel that way. Maybe once one feels their story to be complete, the anxiety of withdrawing from it basically vanishes.
I used to have a belief system growing up. But I'm far past that now. I don't know where I truly stand on life after death, but for now, I accept that death is the end. Whys it so easy for me to be okay with that? Well. I'm not really okay with it, but it's inevitable. Every single person dies. I can't escape it, so letting it run my fears and life doesn't seem sensible. If I spend all my life fearing death, then when I die and look back, I would have wasted so much time and thinking that could have been applied elsewhere. But, just like your first line in the last paragraph, it could be just me, or others. Everyone reacts differently to different things. Sent from my iPad using Grasscity Forum mobile app
^ I think that's the healthiest way to be, but unless you find yourself facing death when it suddenly feels like its too soon, only then will you know how you really feel about it.
\nThe young and healthy may think they would accept death, but it is really only the old who are ready to face it. I have a feeling they do feel their life is complete, or at least they've lived it by then. It may be that when it is your time, when there is nothing you still want to do, the idea presents itself in a way that feels far more real and easier to embrace. You could say that they have to embrace it because if they don't it will take them anyway, and yet we know that many do not. Perhaps they have feared it all their life. Perhaps they realise they have not been the best they could have been.
And that is a horrible feeling. I've learned that the hard way more than once. But I'm not too afraid of it anymore. Fear is one of the biggest anchors that hold people down. It's very freeing to overcome it. Of course if I was standing face to face with a tiger, I would be shitting my pants in fear. The survival instinct is strong.
What's the point of living? If you don't believe in a after life the point of living would be to somehow make a change or a mark on this world before we leave. But obviously this will differ from person to person.